In a report issued on Wednesday, the Ministry of Finance announced that it has collected EGP 89.4bn in tax revenue in the first third of the 2015/2016 fiscal year (FY). The figure represents an increase from the EGP 71.4bn in tax revenue during the corresponding period in the previous fiscal year.
The ministry attributed the EGP 18bn increase to tax reforms that were implemented in the current fiscal year. Reforms to the tax code include increasing the tax rate on incomes, wages and sales tax.
The ministry has raised income tax by 26.6% from the rate in the FY 2014/2015, which has generated an additional EGP 33bn for the state between July and October. During the previous fiscal year, income tax accounted for EGP 26bn in revenue during the same period.
The tax on wages increased by 22.6%, year-on-year, recording EGP 8bn in revenue in the first third of FY 2015/2016. State revenue generated from the sales tax between July and October has increased by 25.9%, recording revenue of EGP 41.3bn.
In the current FY 2015/2016, budget revenue generated from taxes are expected to reach EGP 422.4bn (14.9% of GDP). Budgetary revenue derived from sales tax is expected to increase from EGP 118.4bn in FY 2014/2015 to EGP 159.8bn (5.6% of GDP). Meanwhile, revenue from general taxes is expected to increase from EGP 207.4bn to EGP 213.5bn (7.5% of GDP) in the current fiscal year.
